Building that blocks museum view spared
The Council of State has intervened to save a treasured art deco building on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street that was threatened with demolition because it blocked the view of the Acropolis for visitors to the New Acropolis Museum. Sources revealed yesterday that Greece’s highest administrative court has issued a ruling reversing a 2007 judgment that would have allowed authorities to knock down the building. The court found that the building added to the appearance of the neighborhood. Architects, conservationists and local residents launched an online campaign to protect the 1930s building, along with an adjacent neoclassical house owned by award-winning composer Vangelis Papathanassiou, which is also slated for demolition. The Council of State has yet to rule on the neoclassical building but yesterday’s news suggests it will also be preserved.
